Reading A Book A Day 'til Christmas: Book Advent Days 1-6

This Christmas our family is trying something new...a book Advent! Each night until Christmas we will read one Christmas book before bed. We fly by the seat of our pants in this family...so we did not use any official start date. I have not had the time to make any daily posts so I will list the books we have read so far. Perhaps, I can get on a daily schedule for our book Advent but I'm not going to hold my breath.

Day 1: Noel's Christmas Secret by Gregoire Solotareff  

We kicked off our book Advent with this French book that has been translated to English. This book is about a young boy named Noel and how he became Santa Claus.

Day 2: The Bears' Christmas by Stan and Jan Berenstain  

After opening gifts on Christmas Day, Daddy Bear takes his son out to play with his new skis, sled, and ice skates. Daddy bear has a few funny mishaps along the way but his son loves the lessons and has a great time. 

Day 3: How The Grinch Stole Christmas! by Dr. Seuss

You absolutely cannot go through the Christmas season without reading this classic book by Dr. Seuss. This is one of Alexis's faves and she loves the cartoon movie version as well. The Grinch HATES Christmas. He dresses himself like Santa Claus and  his dog as a reindeer and sets off for Who-ville, to steal everyones Christmas presents and trees. He even steals their food in an effort to keep Christmas from coming...but the Grinch's plan doesn't work. Christmas is here and the Who's are still happy...joyful even. The Grinch realizes that presents don't make Christmas...perhaps Christmas means a little more. We just love this book.

Day 4: God Gave Us Christmas by Lisa Tawn Bergren

Little Cub asks his mama "Who 'vented Christmas? Was it Santa?" Mama explains to Little Cub how God gave us Christmas. To answer Cub's questions they go on a little journey to find God. Everywhere they go they find God, in the glaciers, the northern lights, and in the stars. And finally, they find Jesus the best present of all. 

Day 5: The Polar Express by Chris Van Allsburg

The Polar Express is another favorite. We watch the movie every year but this was my first time reading the book. This is a wonderful story about the magic of Christmas.

Day 6: Beany Wakes Up For Christmas by Lisa Bassett
Scamp squirrel prepares for a Christmas celebration and for the day he gets to wake up his best friend Beany Bear. A story of friendship and love.

Visit Mouse Grows Mouse Learns to see what others are reading.

Blueberries For Sal

Blueberries For Sal by Robert McCloskey - A truly charming little book about a girl named Sal and her mother who go to Blueberry Hill to pick blueberries for canning. With the use of onomatopoeias, you can hear the blueberries hitting the bottom of Sal's tin pail...kuplink, kuplank, kuplunk! Blueberries For Sal is full of black and white illustrations that really gives this book that vintage feel. The beginning illustration brings back fond memories of my great grandmother's kitchen. I read this to my 7 year old daughter. She enjoyed it and recalls watching a film about it in Kindergarten.

What My Child Is Reading - November 18

 

Yard Sale -This was a book that Alexis chose for her Read To Feed project. Spudville is a quiet neighborhood where everyone keeps to themselves. One day Mr. Flotsam has a yard sale and out of curiosity the neighbors come and buy up all of the seemingly normal goods. The next day strange things happen to all of the goods. Mr. Rotelli bought a pasta maker that didn't have an off button and his house is filled with pasta. Mrs. Applebee's telephone is ringing with calls from her ancestors. At first the towns people are upset over their purchases but come to appreciate the gifts that each purchase brings. The magical purchases unite the townspeople and as a result creates a thriving community.

The Zack Files Don't Count On Dracula - This weeks read aloud was a funny tale of a boy named Zack and his friend Spencer who enter and win a contest to have dinner with the famous actor Mella Bugosi, a horror film star with a thick Transylvanian accent. Zack notices very strange things about Mella Bugosi, he avoids sunlight, sleeps in a coffin, and has V8 Juice labeled with blood types. Is Bugosi a vampire or is it all a part of his act.

Bringing The Rain To Kapiti Plain - This is an African Folktale from the country of Kenya. The Kapiti Plain was beautiful and green until a long period of drought caused all of the grass to dry up and die. All of the wild animals migrated elsewhere in search for food and water. Kipat, a local herdsmen and his cattle waited daily for the looming rain cloud to produce rain. The cows mooed for the rain to fall from the sky. As each day goes by, the cows grow weaker and skinnier. One day Kipat makes an arrow, from a feather that falls near him, and shoots the rain cloud causing it to burst open and rain.  With the rain, the brown grass turned green again giving new life to the plains and all of the animals that needed it for survival. 

What We Are Reading November 10

The Bailey City Monsters Vampire Baby - The Hauntly Manor Inn has a new guest, a baby. But this is no ordinary baby, this baby has sharp eye teeth, black hair, pale skin and is sensitive to sunlight.  Ben, Annie, and Jane are suspicious of the baby and believe she may be a vampire.

Alexis loves vampires, zombies, and monsters, so we picked this for our read aloud. The Bailey City Kids series encounters lots of ghoulish characters. This series could easily become a favorite in our house.

Pigs In The Mud In The Middle Of The Rud - A family is traveling along a muddy road in a Model T Ford only to be stopped by some pigs playing in the middle of the mud in the rud. Someone's gotta shoo but who? One by one, each family member volunteers to shoo as more animals join the pigs in the mud in the rud but the animals won't budge. This book is full of silly rhymes and Alexis enjoyed reading it aloud.

Sitti's Secrets - When Mona travels from the USA to Palestine to visit her grandmother, she has to rely on her father to translate. Soon Mona and her Sitti (grandmother) develop their own language and no longer need father's help. Mona learns Sitti's customs and daily routines and forms a strong bond with her Palestinian family despite a language barrier. When Mona returns home, she writes a letter to the President of the United States with a message of peace.

Linking Up to What My Child Is Reading and Read Aloud Thursday.

What My Child Is Reading - November 5

There Was An Old Lady Who Swallowed A Fly We enjoyed this book. The little old lady swallowed a fly, then she swallows a spider to catch the fly, then swallows a bird to catch the spider. You can probably guess what she swallows next!  This book has colorful and fun illustrations.

Pippi In The South Seas  I loved the Pippi Longstocking movies as a kid and picked this as our read aloud this week. Pippi Longstocking is the strongest girl in the world. Her father becomes King of Kurrekurredut Island and takes Pippi and her friends Tommy and Annika to the South Seas to see his kingdom. The children have many unusual adventures throughout the book, which makes this a fun read.

This week I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.

What My Child Is Reading October 22

Cam Jansen The Mystery at the Haunted House - This is the 2nd book read of the mystery genre. The story takes place in an amusement park with Cam, her friend Eric,, Aunt Katie and Uncle George. While taking a snack break Aunt Katie notices her wallet is missing. Did someone steal Aunt Katie's wallet or did aunt Katie misplace it? Cam with her photographic memory begins gathering the clues to solve the mystery.

Young Cam Jansen and the New Girl Mystery Jenny, the new girl in school is hard to miss because she talks incessantly. Eric gently informs her of the no talking rules to no avail. After lunch, the class attends gym, but all is too quiet. Where is Jenny? Did she get lost. Cam and Eric set off to solve the mystery

The Berenstain Bears Go On A Ghost Walk Papa bear gets a little overzealous with his Halloween preparations and learns that one bear's fun is another bears nightmare.

This week I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.

What My Child Is Reading September 30

Shipwreck Saturday This was part of Alexis's homework this week. Little Bill builds a boat and takes it to a nearby lake to see if it floats. The boats gets turned over by a wave caused by a passing rowboat. A devastated Little Bill runs home crying. Dad convinces Little Bill to go back to the park. At the park, Little Bill discovers that his friends have turned the shipwreck into a kite.

The Pigeon Finds A Hot Dog Pigeon books are some of Alexis's favorites. They are very humorous books and I love listening to Alexis read these books, she reads with so much emotion.

Pigeon Wants A Puppy Pigeon wants a puppy! Pigeon promises he will take good care of a puppy. "I will water it once a month!" Pigeon says. When a puppy appears, Pigeon gets scared and decides he wants a walrus instead.

This week I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.

What My Child Is Reading September 22

Nicholas by Rene Goscinny - This is the English version of the French book Le Petit Nicolas. We learned about Le Petit Nicolas from a postcard we received from France that had a stamp of the Le Petit Nicolas cartoon character. Alexis and I watched the french cartoon on You Tube. We were both intrigued, so I searched for the English version of the book at our local library.  

This book is a compilation of short stories about Nicholas and his friends. Nicholas is a mischievous school boy. He and his friends get into some very rowdy escapades.  Our favorite story in the book thus far is called "Cowboys." Nicholas invites his friends over to his house to play cowboys but they all get into a disagreement on who is going to be captured. Nicholas's father breaks up the fight and decides he will play cowboys too. The boys tie Nicholas's father to a tree, he is their captive. The neighbor, Mr. Billings jumps the hedges and joins the fun, much to father's dismay. Mother calls everyone in to eat dinner and then the boys head upstairs to play with trains. At the end of the day, Nicholas sees that father is still tied to the tree and remarks at how much father loves to play cowboys!

This book is so hilarious that even my husband enjoys listening to me read it.

The Egyptian Cinderella This book was chosen to be read for our Egypt project. A story about a Greek girl named Rhadopsis who was kidnapped and taken to Egypt to be a slave. Her master has golden slippers made for her feet because she dances so beautifully. One day, a falcon swoops down and steals one of her slippers and it lands in the lap of the Pharoah Amasis. Amasis sees this as a sign from the Egyptian sky god, Horus, and sets off to find the owner of the slipper so that he may take her as his queen.

Junie B. First Grader Cheater Pants Junie B. failed to complete her homework assignment. Rather than getting in trouble for not turning in her homework, Junie B. copy's off of her classmate, May. Junie B. gets in trouble for cheating and Mr. Scary tells her Mom and Dad.  But, Junie B. doesn't think that what she did was cheating and the next day she gets help from her friend Herb on a spelling test. Herb and Junie B. feel guilty and tell the teacher they cheated. Junie B. learns her lesson and regains Mr. Scary's trust for being honest.

This week I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.

What My Child Is Reading September 15

The Very Hungry Caterpillar One day a caterpillar pops out of an egg and is so hungry he eats his way through one apple, two pears, three plums etc. until he gets big and fat. After the caterpillar has grown from eating so much he builds a cocoon and emerges a beautiful butterfly. This is a great little book that teaches the life cycle of a caterpillar.

The Monster Who Did My Math A young boy is dreading to do his math homework, when a monster appears and offers to do the homework for a price. The boy accepts the deal, signs a contract and opts to pay later. The young boy is happy with the arrangement when he gets an A+ on his homework the next day. One day the teacher calls the boy to the blackboard to complete a math problem in front of the class. The boy now realizes the downside of not doing his own homework. He is unable to complete the problem because he has not learned anything. In order to escape the contract he must use his math skills to find the $64 payoff. While on the hunt for the money, he owes the monster, the boy learns that problem solving is fun.

The Magic School Bus In The Haunted Mansion The class is going to perform a concert at the sound museum but the magic school bus breaks down in front of a haunted house. The students hear lots of strange sounds coming from the house. When they enter, sounds are coming from everywhere, even from inside of books.  Once inside, the children learn that the haunted house is really the sound museum.  They learn all about sound during their visit.

Mummies Made In Egypt This is a Reading Rainbow Book. It describes the techniques and reasons for mummification in ancient Egypt. This book was chosen to go with our Egypt study. Travel to Egypt with Alexis, we have our itinerary listed at Alexis World Traveler.

This week I'm linking up to Read Aloud Thursday and What My Child Is Reading.